The Scarring of the Heart
by Moonhera
Summary: Jake learns the truth, the long harsh way. Based on Lily Hanson's 'A Romantic Demise' Chapter 8.


_This is an off shoot from Lily Hanson story from chapter 8 of 'A Romantic Demise'. Go check her work out! She is a really great writer! And thank you for letting me do this._

_All ideas and AU characters come from her. I did not create the backstory here, I'm only going on something I wish to explore. So head on over to her's to explore her story and her ideas. I own nothing here._

_This is also AU from her series so anything that happens here is not going to happen in her series (unless she wants to use it and then she can XD). So do not expect this to happen in the actual series. Just so we're all clear on that._

* * *

><p>He never realised how bad it had become, about who he had become as the hours slowly trickled by, sand drops flowing through the hour glass never ending. There was no time limit, he had screwed up. Badly. And this time? There was no Gia to come and tell him that everything was alright. She wasn't there, just an empty space by his side. His comfort, comrade was that of the chains that rattled coldly against his skin. Was it his protection, someone else's or both? Cliff had long been blanked as he sat curled up in the corner, his eyes focused on the wall beside him. His eyes could count the scratches on the wall, his fingers could tell the way they flowed against the surface, the harsh sides to the ones that waved out into the even surface. His heart could say the way he had become self-involved with protecting the one he had hurt.<p>

That was the amount that hurt the most, the thing that curled around his heart, clutching at it like an iron grip, squeezing painfully. In the end he had become the one that had hurt her, instead of saving her. Behind Cliff laughed, an echoed laugh that bounced around the empty walls of the room, an ice shard piercing the silence of his own musings, accompanying the music of pain. Emma's words whispered through his lips, over … all of it was over. There was no rescuing, no pulling back. Everything that happened was over in a flash.

Hours easily slipped into a night, slipping further into the day. The only set of eyes which watched Troy as he brought the food in was that of Cliff, his laugh hollowed out for all to hear. The Red Ranger didn't even bother calling out, his voice couldn't have penetrated the shield of denial that had slipped over Jake. Instead food was left. Left to go cold as the boots echoed out of the holding cells, a solid beat against the floor, the beating of a drum. The pangs of the stomach had long since disappeared in the twisting of his heart.

Even laughs can't last forever, even the strongest of men couldn't hold out against the oncoming waves of sleep. A dark force that both evil and good couldn't hold against, a natural state of being that all living beings must scum to. It was hard fought though, his whole body fought against his mind but eventually all things must come to rest as his eyes closed with the urges of his body. It was an uneasy, uncomfortable, restless sleep filled with the sounds of a swishing axe heading towards a singular body. His axe swishing towards Gia, time and time again. Even his nightmares made a mockery out of him but as man who refused to scream, his own body's torture was expressed only through the deep breathing that escaped him.

Punishment is not easy for those who are not patient. Who cannot sit still and for Jake that was yet another test, another testament to how badly he had screwed up. His legs pulled at him to run, his arms screamed at him to move for days passed without him moving. Cliff recovered from the injuries but Gia never entered. Emma was a frequent visitor, Troy next, Noah and Orion had been once but left without saying a word. The Pink Ranger's voice was crystal clear with her cutting tone. To both of them.

"You do realise that is going to get nasty?" a cold mechanical voice cut across his thoughts, his musings, from his corner.

Jake looked up from where he had been looking at the newest scratch against the wall. His fingers running across it like it was something to behold. Cliff was at the bars of his own cell, looking hungrily across the gap between them at the tray of soup and bread. The Black Ranger looked down at it before glancing up, wondering if he should dignify him with a response. If Cliff had remained dead when he should have been dead then none of this would have happened, two years wouldn't have been wasted. "You're wasting good food there." It was true that Jake had picked at it but had put it down after a few mouthfuls.

"What's it to you?" his voice cracked from the silence he had placed it under. It sounded dry and underused.

"Nothing to waste between prisoners," Cliff sneered with a cocky tone, the knowledge that Jake had been with him over the last few days had pleased him greatly. Each moment a chance to remind him how Gia had left him, not even visited him. For a few moments Jake wanted to refuse him, just turn back to the corner but he did the last thing either of them expected. His chains rattled, clanging as he stood from the corner, moving over to the tray and pushing it through the bars into the metal hallway, within reach of Cliff's cell. The other's face was stroked with confusion, shock and curiosity.

For a moment he watched the other reach forwards and take the tray through the bars, food which had already gone cold but still eagerly received. Then he turned away again, heading back to his corner. There were no words of thanks but the sounds of food being swallowed eagerly. Pity … was that what he had shown? His thoughts tried thinking back on his actions so few days ago. Was it the fact that Gia had shown pity but he … he had shown … what had he shown? It had not been pity that was for certain. Kindness, was that what he had shown just now in giving the remainder of his food? It would have just been as easy to leave it; it was more effort, energy to move across to the other side of the cell, to push through the bars at an angle that it would go.

It was with a deepening sigh he lay his head back against the wall, his right leg sprawled out next to the wall, his left curled up to his chest, one arm wrapped around it to keep it in place as he studied the new scratches on the ceiling. They could have almost been stars. The only part of this place that reminded him of it. His heart gave an empty thump as the memory of running feet had marched their way in front of the door came back.

The others had left on a mission, to fight. As they had done once or twice before whilst he had been here, but this had been the first time Emma had literally run from the room after giving them their meals for the day. There had been no calls for help. No looks for him to help in the battle. They had just gone without a word. An automatic fighting team … and he wasn't part of it. His fingers went back to the scratch he had been exploring before, a comforting, familiar thing it seemed now. It was felt weird how it brought a small smile to his face when he found something new about it.

As they found a new lip on the light surface, something exploded in front of his eyes. Well to be truthful, his cell walls and bars exploded in front of him. Quickly curling up he felt the solid thumps of the side of the ship hit his arms, one or two ripping through the material of his sleeve. He could hear Cliffs yelling in surprise as the few seconds that it caused for something to rip through the side, rocked the ship from side to side. When all was silent for a few seconds, Jake looked up at the other side of the cell that had been there, now a large gap. Throwing caution to the wind, he peeked out over the edge. Loogies stood all around, a rather large gun aimed at the ship.

Moving backwards he bumped into the cold metal poling of the cage, now a rather large part missing out of it, Jake realised as he looked around at it. He could get out and get out he did. Cliff scampered from his corner, up to where he stood against the edge of the hole. The door was just beyond the narrow ledge. Cliff grabbed at his clothes before he could even get part way across, causing Jake to sway dangerously.

"Don't leave me here! Don't you dare leave me here," Jake sent a look down at Cliff, on his hands and knees, begging. For a moment, he was tempted to leave him there. Leave him there to suffer. Turning his head away he started across the gap, being careful not to fall. They had to move the sky ship. "Please," it was that sound that made him stop as he reached the other side. That whispered sound, like when the people they protected pleaded with him. For a moment he stayed there before another rocking of the ship caused him to fall.

With hardened eyes Jake moved ahead, the sky ship had to move from the place and there was no one else. The door slammed open. The glint of something silver in colour shone at him out of the corner of his eye. Looking over his shoulder he saw two keys hanging there on the outside. Grabbing one of them he bent down to undo the cuffs on his ankles. All his chain holdings to the wall had been ripped away in the blast, so only the cuffs remained. He had chosen at the right key, as they unlocked from their holdings, falling to the ground with a clatter. He would apologize for leaving later, but first everyone else needed a place to come back to. The main control room was oddly empty. Unguarded …. Apart from the growl that sounded in front of him when he had stepped up to the controls. Looking up he saw Tiger standing there, ready to pounce at him, Tensou was just behind.

Holding up his hands he backed away from the controls as Tiger advanced on him, her paws making little sound against the metal floor. With steady eyes on the one before him, he took a quick glance up at Tensou.

"They are outside; they hit the cells with some sort of gun. I don't know what. The Sky Ship needs to move otherwise she's going to go down very quickly, they blew the wall out with that gun," and he would have been nothing more than a splattered mess on the ground had he been on the other side. "Look, I'll go hold them off, but you need to move it. Otherwise there'll be nothing for the others to come back to!" his hands were shaking from the memory of how strong Tiger could be as he was now backed up against the door, leading back where he came from.

"I'll move it," the robot squeaked as he went about to the controls. Jake nodded his head, walking back out of the room as Tiger went to guarding Tensou in his work. The robot was the most valuable piece of equipment on this ship at the moment. The only way that this ship would survive.

His heart was pounding as he turned back towards the cell, a small idea forming in his head as he made his way down the decks, running. He could feel the burn on his legs from the sudden movement, from not warming up first, from not moving the last couple of days more than a few feet. Not even that. The ship suddenly started to lurch under his feet, nearly causing him to slip as he ran as quickly as possible, grabbing at the wall and the grabbling hook left carelessly on the floor before launching back into the cells. Cliff's cell was still there and the other was in the corner, trying to save himself from whatever would happen next. This was the only way … Tensou was trying to get the ship to move but he needed more time. Jake knew that.

Cliff looked up with rounded eyes as the Black Ranger came around the corner. Jake didn't have time to think, or watch that the other was surprised by his return or that he had returned. Only that he knew he had to. With quick movements he was over the gap once again, at the door of the cell, opening it, before marching in and undoing the chains that held the other. Only the ones that bound him to the walls.

"What are you doing?" there was a squeak to the other's voice.

"Buying enough time," was the simple answer Jake gave and he gave no other explanation as he grabbed Cliff, pulling him out of the cell, towards the hole. He was still bound in chains but at least he had enough movement.

"How do you know I won't kick your ass?" that sneer was back but intermingled with the hints of fear. Supposed that's what happened when you're nearly shot.

"I don't," Jake commented as he linked the grabbling hook firmly about the only remaining poles which looked sturdy enough. There were no doubts in his mind about what he had to do, about what he must do. Grabbing Cliff around the waist he held tightly to the other, he could feel sickened later, the end of the grabbling hook in the other as he released them both into the hole.

Freefalling was never the greatest experience and it was not something that he wished to do again as they hit the ground with a solid thump, feeling the earth echoing through his body. Then it went lose. A solid thud into his stomach caused Jake to stumble slightly, choke as he watched with a bent over stomach as Cliff ran out to the enemy.

"Hey! I'm here!" Cliff shouted; the Black Ranger could only watch as he recovered his wind. He had expected as much. He had planned as much. Overhead he watched as the Sky Ship's engines started to shudder to life. Tensou was getting there, just a little bit longer. Yet, what happened next was not something he had planned for. The enemy turned to look at Cliff for a brief few seconds before their own guns were raised, shoots suddenly riddled the ground with holes.

"What are you doing?!" Jake watched with amazed eyes as Cliff continued to shout, instead of running away. Finding the smallest part of adrenaline left the Black Ranger launched forwards, grabbing the other by the chains and pulling him backwards into the treeline. The Loogies promptly followed.

"Don't stop running," Jake commanded, not even taking in time to engage with his emotions as he pulled the other through the trees, avoiding the shots fired at them from a distance behind. He barely had a chance to register the sounds of engines being gunned, the Sky Ship was going and she would go quickly.

"Transform! Fight them!" Cliff was screaming at him as they moved through. He didn't seem to understand why he had been fired at.

But there was nothing he could transform with, he had lost everything when he had been placed in the cell and honestly hadn't thought about finding it when he had charged through to get back to the cells. The original plan was to use Cliff as a distraction, something they wanted but that seemed to go out of the window when the guns had been raised. Now it was a matter of running. Running as fast they could.

Eventually, they made it. They made out of the forest, the enemy far behind them, they had lost them as they stood at a cliff edge. Well Cliff had collapsed at the cliff edge, looking out over the large water expanse. Jake was bent over on with his hands on his knees, wishing he had that meal beforehand.

"Why didn't you fight them? Why didn't you transform?" the other yelled at him.

"Because I was saving your sorry ass!" Jake snapped back, glaring at the panting person before him. It was only then his emotions started to engage as Cliff sat there with eyes wide open, glancing around, shock, horror written on his face. He had saved Cliff … after he had tried to kill him … was … was this what …

"They shot at me, they tried to kill me," he was in shock. He was beyond their ranks but still they had tried to kill him. "Wh-why did you save me?" Cliff looked at Jake with wide eyes, fearful. Slowly he placed his hand on the other's shoulder.

"Because Gia was right," she had been right all along. Everything had been right. "Call this your second chance of life. To get it right," slowly he unclamped his hand from the other's shoulder.

Turning, Jake started away, no longer looking at the person he had just saved from death. The one that he had tried to kill, the one that had hurt Gia, the one who had been lied to, hurt but in return damaged, lied to, nearly killed himself. Gia had saved Cliff from a life … from a life not worth living. Jake had tried to erase that, had tried to undermine it, had tried to kill Cliff and in turn Gia. He had become all that he tried to keep Gia from … now he understood Emma's bittersweet words. Now, after it was all too late. As he head back into the treeline, out of sight, he knew … he knew then, that he could never re-join the others. He had no right to be one of them.


End file.
